Southwest Corn & Quinoa Stuffed Tomatoes

This is the recipe that started it all. The recipe that motivated me to start my food blog that is.

I was an avid food blog reader at the time and had thought about starting my own for a while but I never thought that I would have enough time or creativity to come up with that many unique recipes. One day after cooking this for dinner, I snapped a quick photo and posted it on facebook. When a bunch of people commented on the photo and started asking for the recipe, I realized that if I started a blog I could easily share with everyone and start recording all of my recipes in one place. The next day, I was taking Oto for a walk on a gorgeous sunny day. The warm breeze was blowing off the water and everything in life just seemed good. It was at this moment that I decided that I wanted my blog to be more than just food, I wanted it to share all of my happiness, whether it be food, sun, family or butterflies. 🙂

Since this was such a momentous (and delicious) recipe, I thought it only fitting to bring it back and share it with you all. Not only is this delicious and healthy (minus the cheese on top), but it’s super quick to prepare. I finished working at 5:55 the other night and I needed to leave the house at 6:30 for a meeting. This dinner was prepared, consumed and the kitchen was clean by the time I had to leave for my meeting. How’s that for a quick weeknight meal?

I also had a little leftover filling to enjoy for lunch the next day.

I used cubanelle peppers for this recipe, they are those long light green peppers you often see at the supermarket. They added a nice subtle heat to the mixture. If you can’t find cubanelle, it would also be tasty with poblano or bell peppers.

Enjoy!

WHAT MAKES ME HAPPY:

DIY crafts!

I went to a party at my friend Emily’s this weekend and she had gotten the idea to create these adult sippy cups made simply by punching a hole in the top of a mason jar and inserting a straw. They were super cute and made the delicious cocktails go down even easier. Plus people are more likely to keep track of their cups throughout the night. SO cute!

Directions

1.

Preheat oven to 400 F.

2.

Hollow out tomatoes by cutting a hole in the top and scooping out the pulp. Reserve 1/4 cup for the filling.

3.

Heat olive oil in a large skillet over medium high heat. Add the onion & peppers and cook stirring often for 5 minutes. Add the quinoa, corn, pulp and seasoning and continue to cook for another 2-5 minutes until heated through.

4.

Spoon quinoa mixture into the hollowed-out tomatoes and place in an oven-safe baking dish. Sprinkle the top with monteray jack cheese.

5.

Bake tomatoes for 5 minutes or until cheese is melted.

Note

If you can't find cubanelle peppers, you can use poblano or bell peppers.